Words used for drinking

Last week in one of the English classes I teach at the Mall of America, we started to talk about all the different words that can be used to describe drinking. The one most commonly used, of course is "drink." However, there are some others you might like to know about:

sip = a small amount of liquid. She slowly sipped her tea.

gulp = a big amount. He gulped down a large Coke.

chug = a big amount. Let's chug our beers and go to a different bar. ("chug" is often used for beer)

nurse = a small amount, also usually used with beer. I have to drive later, so I'm nursing my beer.

Past Tense, Passive Voice

We're continuing with the passive voice. Today I'll show you how to make the past tense passive:

Subject + (be) + the past participle

The car was fixed yesterday.

The accident victims were taken to the hospital.

Use "was" or "were" depending on the subject. Let's practice by changing a few sentences into the passive voice. These are all in the past tense:

A hunter killed two wild turkeys. Two wild turkeys were killed by a hunter.

Someone hit my car in the parking lot. My car was hit in the parking lot.

Skilled surgeons performed the operation. The operation was performed by skilled surgeons. �

This video will help you as well.

Present Continuous Tense, Passive Voice

This is how to make the present continuous tense in the passive voice:

Subject + (be) + being + the past participle

The car is being fixed today.

It's important to consider how the verb "be" changes following the subject. Of course, there are three possibilities: am, is, and are. Then, you use "being," but it's also possible to use the verb "get."

The car is getting fixed today.

The main verb in this case is "fix." It's a regular verb: fix / fixed / fixed. The main verb is in the form of the past participle.� I made a YouTube video for this. Just do a search on YouTube and you should be able to find it easily enough.

Present Tense, Passive Voice

The passive voice in the present tense often confuses students. Sometimes they think they're looking at the past tense if the past participle looks like a past tense verb. The important thing is to look at the verb "be." If you take the verb "pay" for instance. (pay / paid / paid) The past tense and the past participle are the same, but when you say "I'm paid twice a month," you're using the present tense: "I am." Here's a video that might help you. �

The Passive Voice

This week we're going to study the passive voice.

The passive voice requires two things: the verb "be" and the past participle. It's possible to use "get" instead of "be," but not always.

Knowing past participles for verbs is essential in the passive voice. For regular verbs, it's easy. Just add "ed" to the end of the word. The apple pie was baked in the oven. "Bake" is a regular verb: bake / baked / baked. Irregular verbs, on the other hand, must be memorized. If you don't know them, go here.

Also, pay attention to the verb "be." It indicates the tense. A new store is being built across the street. What tense is that? The present continuous--"is being." Isn't it strange to use "be" twice? But remember the rules for making the present continuous: S + (be) + _____ing. Then you add the past participle. �

Dictation Exercise

Here's a new dictation exercise. Number a piece of paper 1-10. Listen to each question and answer (they match), and then write down what you hear. The answers are at the end of the video. �

Click here to watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_WnrXSe-1k

Obama

Barack Obama is in a very strong position to become the next U.S. President. What are your thoughts about that?�

Reading

How much time do you spend reading English every day? I always tell my students that they should try to spend at least an hour a day reading a book, a newspaper, or a magazine in English. There are a lot of places online, too, but it's good to get away from the computer, go outside, and just read something that interests you. It can be any subject--gardening, music, history, religion, astronomy--and you should try to write down words that you don't know in a notebook that you use for collecting new vocabulary. I did this when I studied German and it helped me develop new vocabulary. �

Mess

In the email I sent out to students yesterday, the featured word of the week was "mess." I like to feature smaller words instead of bigger words because they are commonly used when Americans speak and write in English and because they can change easily with the addition of a preposition. Here are some examples: mess up, mess around, mess with, mess around with.

The United States government really messed up its response to Hurricane Katrina. (didn't do a good job)

A boy and a girl were caught messing around in the back seat of a car. (kissing)

If you mess with that dog, he's going to bite you. (bother or cause trouble)

He likes to mess around with his friends after school. (hangout, do things together)

A new blog!

While I continue to keep my other blog at www।learnamericanenglishonline.com, this will allow students to post comments and interact with me more easily. It will be extra work to maintain two blogs, but let's see how things go.

Welcome to the first day of this blog! Post a comment go to my website and sign up for email lessons if you are not already a member.